Universal has turned the Fast & Furious franchise into a juggernaut that fans love — I’d wager that I see more anticipation expressed for Fast & Furious 6 on a daily basis than I do for any other summer tentpole slated for release this year. By crafting a series of tightly interconnected stories, the studio (and screenwriter Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin) have pinpointed exactly what audiences want: big action with entertaining actors, and a story throughline to match long-form television.

Seems so simple, but only Marvel is building the same sort of structure, and capturing fans the same way.

Fast & Furious 6 arrives on May 24, and in a note about an early screening of the film Vin Diesel says that the reaction to 6 is good enough that shooting on Fast & Furious 7 is already set for this summer. Read More »

Fast Five wound up being one of 2011’s most unexpected pleasures, so hopefully we’re in for a treat when the first footage from Justin Lin‘s Fast and Furious 6 (or whatever it winds up being called) airs during the Super Bowl this weekend.

To prep fans for the unveiling, Universal has finally released an official synopsis explaining just what Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker), Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), and the rest of the gang will be up to in the new film — and how exactly Luke Evans‘ villain and the presumed-dead Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) factor in. Read it after the jump.

With the exception of Machete Kills, which is a sequel to 2010 film, everything in today’s Sequel Bits is pretty old school, featuring characters or properties that have been around at least a decade. After the jump: